About Cine

CINE honors and champions the creators of exceptional media content.

CINE builds and supports a community of professional, emerging and student film, television and digital content creators through the CINE Golden Eagle Awards, the CINE Connects mentorship program, the Marvin Hamlisch Film Scoring Contest, and related skill-building programs.

CINE is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

CINE’S PAST

CINE (Council on International Non-Theatrical Events) was created in 1957 as a public-private partnership with the USIA branch of the State Department. The organization provided the means to accredit U.S. documentary and industrial films for submission to major foreign festivals such as Berlin, Venice and Rotterdam. At the time, many of these festivals were also markets for distributors, which were critical to spreading American documentaries to an international audience. In addition, the Golden Eagle Award was created to honor the films that were then submitted to festivals around the globe for programming. In the 1970s and 1980s, categories were added for television and student and scripted films.

By 1995, government priorities shifted with the end of the Cold War and evolving distribution models, including online. CINE’s organizational mission changed to an emphasis of peer recognition of media makers through the CINE Golden Eagle Awards. In recent years, CINE created new categories to honor digital content and placed even greater emphasis on honoring student media makers through the creation of the CINE Film Scoring Competition for Emerging Composers (now the Marvin Hamlisch Film Scoring Contest).

CINE’S FUTURE

In 2014, CINE reimagined its mission in the ever-changing media industry and committed to a new vision: honoring excellence in mediamaking through a new set of criteria focused on storytelling, originality, and meeting the needs of the intended audience.

The CINE Golden Eagle Awards are now presented in three distinct annual cycles: Professional Media, Independent & Emerging Media, and Student & Youth Media. Every entry is evaluated based on a set of published criteria, and reviewers’ comments are made available to entrants after finalists and winners are announced. Complimentary trophies are awarded at CINE Celebrates receptions in Los Angeles, New York and Washington, DC each fall.

In 2015, the organization launched CINE PitchFest presented by A&E, providing new opportunities for independent media makers to pitch projects to top industry execs. Media students are invited to learn from observing the pitch process.

For nearly six decades CINE has recognized and encouraged new talent while honoring achievements of established media makers. This work will continue with the launch of the CINE Connects mentorship program in 2017 — connecting the next generation of great media makers with CINE alumni whose work has revolutionized the industry.